User talk:Hans Mueller Brazil

–== Disease Prevention at Manicure and Pedicure Procedures ==

By; Hans Müller, M.B.A. and Claudia V. Milward de Andrade, M.D., Dernatologist, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A Public Healthcare Problem with Manicure and Pedicure contagious diseases in the World is an untold story, it is widespread and so much unknown. Much more has to be written, or broadcasted to alert people for these Diseases Prevention. It is a Public Welfare Problem a health risk that is occurring in many Nail Salons and with millions of Nail Technicians around the Globe. Unfortunately, not much on prevention is being done anywhere. This contamination problem is a Real Public Safety Issue, and the majority of these new contaminations happen due to not properly sterilized instruments, objects, equipments, and STD. In some countries this contaminations problem is worse than in others, affecting local people and millions of travelers (1). E.g.: The estimated rate of the infected population with Hepatitis C (exposes a big thread to manicure), in some countries is:  In the USA 1,5%, in New York 2%, increasing, for example, among the East Harlem and Lower East Side Manhattan population (not including any injecting drug users), to over 10%(2), and growing. In Brazil, 2%, in the Amazon this rate is much higher. In France 3%, in South Africa and Egypt 30% and in many developing countries over 10%. Prisoners in the US are five times likely to have been infected with Hepatitis than the same number of people among the civilian population. Homeless people’s death from hepatitis surpasses by far the HIV cases. More than 15% of the World’s population has already one of the diseases which can be transmitted by not right sterilized manicure or pedicure implements. Sharing items like razors, toothbrushes, dental appliances, needles, piercing, tattooing liquids and tools, strews, pipes, as well as many manicure and pedicure tools, like scissors, cuticle and nail cutters, emery boards, picks, tweezers, files, buffers, pushers, cuticle lifters, sticks, nippers, clippers, nail brushes and other tools  can transmit infectious diseases when used on different people. Many of these tools like files, brushes, buffers, emery boards, pliers, manicure picks, cutters, lifters etc. are almost impossible or very difficult to be sterilized. Wooded, papered or soft tools like emery boards, files, finger brushes, wood sticks, wood pushers, orange wood, when used on a person, these tools should be discarded after each use, it is impossible to properly sterilize them.

According to dozens of Health Ministries, Authorities, Academies, Societies, Associations, Foundations, Organizations, Encyclopedias, Centers for Disease and Prevention Control, Gastroenterologist Associations, Medical Doctors, medicine laboratories, and Dermatologists, the Manicure Salons and Nail Technicians are the leaders in the ranking of client’s contaminations with many infections and diseases. All these institutions and Physicians throughout the U.S. recommend people to use their own manicure and pedicure tools. All these Health Authorities advice people, not to share any manicure or pedicure device even with a family member. Many Medical Doctors say, bringing the own tools reduces the risks of contracting many medically documented diseases in nail salons. Everything that can hold an invisible tiny amount of blood, Serum or lymph fluid from a tiny cuticle bleed or a very small cut can escape from a safe sterilization. Even the American Academy of Dermatology and the Food and Drug Administration linked nail salons to many infectious diseases. It is just a question of years and every manicure and pedicure consumer will use only their own or some kind of disposable implements. The same is been done nowadays with medical injections, condoms and it has to be done from now on e.g., with Endoscopes and cannulas, where the sterilization is difficult in order to avoid the contamination with a disease spread by Mycobacterium Chelonae or Mycobacterium Abscessus. According to a Reuter’s Report the nails salon business is now worth $7 billion a year in the US. This business is starting to attract the attention of big time investors, in addition to the entrepreneurs who run most nail salons. Revenues have also grown 67 percent in the past decade. In the US, there are more than 60,000 nail salons, and the manicure instruments business is worth $1 billion a year. In the UK this trend has also taken off, as well as in hundred of other countries, and in most countries consumers will not find always well sterilized tools. Nail salons aim to create a lifestyle environment, as a place to hang out and relax for a while. In the U.S., Asian-American-owned nail shops are driving the current industry growth, with Vietnamese-Americans making up 37 percent of licensed technicians nationwide, and dominating 80 percent of the industry. Nail salons are being transformed by Vietnamese and Korean-American professionals from a luxury of the rich to a middle and working class beauty routine. Every year millions more will have their nails done and the sterilization problem will always persist.

A typical nail salon will see an average of 100 customers daily. Nail salons provide instant luxury and gratification to an ever increasing number of women. Men are now emerging as a key market, and children are in on the scene, suggesting that the business will only get bigger as they grow older. “ There is just more demand for products” said Suzi Weiss-Fischermann, executive vice president and art director of OPI, the leading professional salon nail polish manufacturer. “Even young kids are getting decals and flowers on their nail and toes”, “Even tanning salons are purchasing nail salons”. Nail Professionals are always more offering their services to other people and everywhere this service is fitting into other beauty related services.

The reality is that these days everybody wants well-groomed fingers and toenails, judging by the explosion in nail salons offering a clip, polish and more, for over $15. corporate professionals, busy moms, college students and prom-goers are all rushing to surrender their hands and feet to reflexology, paraffin wax dips, hydrating masks and salt scrubs in fancifully named spas, and besides these, people of all sort are always more getting their nails, hands and toes buffed and shaped. The nail industry is growing at a tremendous rate, and nail, hand and feet care is being incorporated into many areas of the beauty industry, and clients want to maintain their nails, repeating the finger-nail and toe treatment, says Tony Cuccio, President and Ceo of Star Nail International.

The hidden dangers in this lucrative industry due to not right sterilized tools, makes that each year, millions of people who frequent nail manicure are exposed to a host of dangerous infections, ranging from: herpes, nail fungus (onychomycosis), warts, paronychias, erysipelas, bacterial infections (Strepto,  Staphylo and Pseudomonas),  skin mycosis, piogenic granuloma, HIV, athletes foot to, the worst of them, Hepatitis B, Delta, C, D and others recently described, like Hepatitis G.  The Hepatitis viruses are very resistant to sterilization. These viruses do not dye easily and are very contagious. Although nail salons are required by law to follow strict sanitary codes and regularly sterilize their implements, the harsh reality for the customer is that many do not do it right and many disease transmissions escape, including Hepatitis, without the technicians and the clients knowing it. There are no 100 percent adequate safe sterilization infrastructures. Many recognized medical journals describe that most medical doctors agree that there is not a safe manicure sterilization. If Nail Technicians decline or discourage a client’s request to use their personal set of tools in the salon, then they are creating across the country, a real medically dangerous environment for the nail salon consumers, this affirms Jim O’Brien, M.D., Manchester, Conn. A scientific research made by five Medical Doctors in nail salons in N.York(3), they come to the conclusion that, there is a real need for the development of infection control PROTOCOLS for Nail Salons (as the ones for medical offices and hospitals), since the potential for transmission of infectious diseases does exist, and the infections happen in a high incidence. According to Geemee Chung, M.D. infectious Disease Physician, Los Angeles, consumers should have the option of requesting the use of their own nail care tools as this can potentially reduce the risk of post manicure and pedicure infections. Many nail professionals are weakly informed about the CDC universal precautions and the sporadic transmissions. The sporadic contaminations (when the source of infection is unknown) keep going one day after the other, and everywhere. In many countries nail technicians are weekly informed of medical information about diseases transmissions. The Dermatologists are still not required to notify to Public Health Officials not even serious diseases, like cellulites bacteria infection, imagine a nail, finger or toe contamination. But, even that they don’t have to notify it, the dermatologist’s consultation rooms are full of manicure victims. Nowadays, it is still as it was in the past, only the Physicians and the patients take notice of these non stopping contaminations problems.

The only effective sterilization system is the autoclave with pressurized steam that penetrates into micro-cavities and kills the viruses on the tools and cavities. But, this safe way of sterilization has many problems when used for manicure, it is expensive to purchase, requires trained individuals to operate it, uses a special room, and worst, the sterilization process needs a longtime to sterilize well. The high temperature, the steam and the long time inside an Autoclave, wears out the tools, requiring a larger number of spare tools, consequently increasing costs. Besides this, an autoclave is typically meant for medical centers. It is not cost efficient or even adequate for nail salons or individual manicurists. Most salons and naillists do not own an Autoclave, but if they own one, Medical Doctors still advice consumers to carry their own tools. Salons are not, and can not be monitored as stringently as medical offices and hospitals with regard to proper and consistent use of these machines. Even that the Autoclave is the only way to effectively sterilize tools according to medical and hospital regulations, there is no guarantee that it is consistently and properly used in salon. Salons charge lower payments from clients than Medical Doctors and, when a salon is full of clients and there are many tools waiting to undergo the  cleaning, the sterilization process and at the end the self drying time for autoclaved tools, very few Nail Technician can wait for the tools to be ready or have a large sterilized supply to do it right. The work has to go fast. A proper Autoclave sterilization just takes long hours and needs many special cares, from the pre-washing of the tools to handling with water, to a higher consumption of electricity, and to a risk of burning people’s skin with the steam.

Besides the absence of an Autoclave in the majority of the nail salons, other factors which help to cut back on quality of sterilization are: the financial pressure facing discount salons, the competition to cut prices, technicians not well skilled, majority of employees not well paid, and always some absent-mindedness technicians who forget to sterilize correctly and adequately as indicated. E.g., to spoil the whole sterilization process in a sterilization apparatus, technicians just don’t have to keep the right sterilization time, the required closing time, the right packing position of material (for the pressurized steam to circulate and penetrate), the right size of load, or the correct temperature. Besides this, Health Threatening infections also develop in nail salons due to, difficult to clean tools and above all, sterilization-ovens and chemical apparatuses don’t kill all viruses, e.g. the Hepatitis virus’s escapes easily. Even a correct mixture of disinfectant or barbicides, according to many experts, does not eliminate all type of contagious viruses. These chemicals fail to properly sterilize tool’s ajars, micro-cavities and some spots, due to obvious reasons.

Another serious problem with sterilization-ovens is that many nail implements have metal micro-orifices where this type of sterilization does not reaches into these places. After the preliminary washing, the tools micro-cavities stay damped or humid, and in these warm and humid cavities, during sterilization, some contaminations can survive. Infections are kept alive even in high temperatures inside a well closed sterilization oven, when the heat penetrates too slowly and unevenly in cavities. Tools with plastic parts don’t survive heat. These results show that on instruments used on multiple clients, every time a customer walks into a nail salon they are running the risk of the technician using tools that are not properly sterilized. The HIV virus dies fast with normal sterilization but, many other bacterias and viruses do not. To kill the virus of Hepatitis B, Delta, C, and D and others it is a difficult task. Only the right exposure into an Autoclave assures and guarantees a free viruses and bacterial instrument. But, who is going to control the correct exposure, and how? It takes time and costs money. Even Dermatologists in their consultation rooms get stressed when they have many followed patients needing tools and the Autoclave sterilizes too slow. These viruses besides of been hard to kill they are the smallest in size viruses and they reach unthinkable contact places, on instruments, equipment, objects and not protected hands.

Normally contamination occurs through invisible blood micro particles, but it can also occur before there is blood, through the lymph or serum, both are body fluids normally brought to surface of the skin during a manicure or pedicure. Not well sterilized tools can contaminate through percutaneous exposures or cuts at the skin surface.

The Hepatitis C virus is one of the smallest virus and can pass through abraded or cracked skin, nail-fold lacerations and very small bleedings or cuts. The incubation period for the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is nearly 2 decades, and the explosion in numbers of people with HCV is yet to come, it is expected to quadruple in the next 10 years. This grave disease was first identified in 1989. The virus has six different genotypes and more than fifty subtypes. There is no vaccine and coming into contact with these viruses is extremely dangerous and easier than one might think. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 5 million Americans and as many as 200 million people around the world currently infected with Hepatitis C, at least four times more than with AIDS. Millions have it and do not know it yet, the worst, they are not even aware of the problem, but infecting others. HCV is called the Silent Epidemic by former surgeon general Everett Koop, MD. Of these more than 80 percent will have the infection for life. Although there is a treatment with an inadequate success rate, it is very expensive, suffering, time consuming, with work loss. The U.S. productivity lost to the work force would equal $71,5billion in 12 years. The great majority will develop life threatening liver disease and will need a liver transplant that is not available for the majority in most countries. Prevention is much cheaper. Only in the U.S. every year there are 35,000 new cases, and by the year 2019 the long-term damages from Hepatitis C infections may cost the U.S. economy more than $81billion. The World Health Organization says that every year 3 to 4 million new case of HCV occur Worldwide. Deaths cases surpassed the AIDS cases. Poor people in many developing countries are dying from Hepatitis by the millions, they have no money for treatments, and in many cases the medical award says only cirrhosis. The true is, Hepatitis killed them, and the dead cause is described as alcohol cirrhosis.

The American Academy of Dermatology and others says that the Hepatitis B virus is 100 times more contagious than HIV. HBV, may survive heat, freezing and drying for days and even years. 100,000 new cases are contracted each year only in the U.S., and new infections continue. The AAD and hundred of other Health Institutions and Physicians advise people to use their own manicure and pedicure instruments and say that instruments used on multiple people have the potential to transmit infections as HIV, fungus, etc., and Hepatitis viruses poses the biggest threat to public health. Hospitals like St. Mary’s in Green Bay Wisconsin advises, “ Check the nail instruments are properly sanitized. Autoclave sterilization is best. Even better: Bring your own nail tools!” Almost all Health Organizations, Gastroenterologists, Dermatologists, etc. condemn the use of same nail implements by more than one person. Do not share the use even among family members, use your own tools.

Many Manicure infection transmissions including Hepatitis have an unsuspecting method of transmission, an almost unidentified route of infection. Contaminations can take some time to appear, from weeks to months for detection. But, it is well known that manicure contaminations do exist because diseases are transmitted to people everyday. Statistics mention that the rate of acquired hepatitis infection at a manicure or pedicure treatment is at least of two percent of the infected population. Many people do not know that they are infected and many who do know they are infected are too embarrassed to share this information with their nail technician. The ICAAC and other institutions are trying to better identify unknown routes for Hepatitis viruses. The statistics from Nail treatments is still at its beginning. Today, 20% to 40% of hepatitis patients have no identified route of transmission. But, the sharing of manicure items such as  cuticle nippers, cuticle pushers and lifters, nail files, etc, are known to contribute to those cases whose carries are unaware of how they contracted the disease, affirm Medical Doctors and Researchers.

Hepatitis C, Delta, B, D and others are responsible for more than 400 million contaminated people world wide. Two people die each minute from Hepatitis or from its related conditions. It is a Universal Healthcare Problem, a real Public Safety Issue, and only with preventive education new infected people can be kept down. Prevention is the solution, in order to live a healthier life. But, an effective and efficient prevention education is very complicate and expensive, thus, far away from the World reality. Perhaps, it can start with more newspaper articles or advertisements? Prevention is cheaper than the illness.

During a 2001, 20/20 investigation, inspectors found many discount salons using heavily diluted disinfectants, in these cases, not sterilizing instruments not even against the minimal diseases. But, the worst, according to many medical doctors and health professionals’ even undiluted bleach isn’t enough to kill hepatitis and similar viruses, and now, what to do? Dr. Carolyn Siegal an attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center testified that in the nail salons, there is clearly an alarming health risk spreading across the country with fungus, viruses, etc. Dr. Siegal selected a nail implements kit for individual use with her Dr. Siegal`s Savy Nail Kit to reduce the exposure to transmissible diseases. She estimated that in the U.S. 36 million people have nail fungus, of these only 6.2 million individuals have been diagnosed and only 2.5 are being treated. This onychomycosis is easily transmitted by poorly sterilized tools, and is practically incurable, it stays for years. She also says that barbicide will not kill hepatitis B, C, D and similar viruses. Dr. Leslie Baumann, director of the Division of Cosmetic Dermatology at the University of Miami also suggests nail salon customers to take their own manicure tools, which would prevent the transmission of infection from one person to another. Hundred of World-wide Health Organizations, Professional Academies and professional publications recommend people not to share their mani-pedicure instruments, not even among family members. To confirm these huge contamination risk problem, we just have to open any internet site on manicure hepatitis C, or B, where thousand of contamination and prevention cases are described.

According to the Seattle Times of Sept. 6, 2005, there are no routine inspections from health authorities in the nail salons in the majority of the US States. According to the WFAA, Channel 8 of Dallas/Fort Worth, by Brad Watson, of February 22, 2007, undercover probe spots more nail salons violation. There are hundred of other articles published worldwide on manicure and pedicure health contaminations.

What imports in our matter, is that Worldwide millions of new and all the habitual consumers want to enhance their appearance, self-esteem and need to take some care of their hands and feet, and they are doing it by themselves or using many types of Naillists available. The question is how to prevent these people from new contaminations? Nail care was primarily female, now men doing it are in a growing number and kids are also taking some care of their hands and feet. People with diabetics have to do toes frequently, according to Susan S. Davis, M.D. at UCLA Medical Center; they should use only their own tools. They have to take extra care of their feet, and any infection can cause a leg amputation. A growing number of people are doing exercises and many other activities where ill-fitting footwares are increasing the number of ingrown-toes needing a safe nail treatment. It will be a safe treatment only if people know how to do it, or to use their own implements.

Nail care consumers should be much more informed and motivated by the media, by NGOs, by an advertising campaign of a multinational company, or by the governments for the people to adopt Healthier Lifestyle Behaviors. Effective Education cost much less than the ignorance or indifference about potential risks of serious infections. Today, in the US, Unhealthy Behaviors are the underlying cause of major chronic diseases. The Media is already alerting against HIV, Dengue, Yellow fiver, Nile-Fiber, anti-cigarettes, Malaria, TB, etc. But, nothing significant is being done against naillists infections and contaminations. If manicure consumers would have a quick CONSIOUS KNOWLEDGE of all the different contamination risks, they would certainly prefer to use well sterilized tools or have their individual implements. As, to find right sterilized tools is always involved with some risks, consumers should always use their own implements.

For a safe manicure, a real big campaign on people’s awareness on infections prevention has to start. If many more people become aware of the many contamination risks, more PREVENTION is demanded, and more people want to require the use of individual nail implements. PREVENTION only happens when people have a quick SPONTANEOUS KNOWLEDGE of the problem, like it happens with syringe injections and condoms. PREVENTION is the interruption of viral and bacterial transmission, promoting a Healthier Lifestyle Behavior. The PREVENTION Campaigns have to force people to use only their own instruments without a second thought, and the media is the fastest mean to start the PREVENTION awareness. Even if these Media awareness campaign does not work, we should find decision makers in institutions, NGOs, foundations, private sectors firms, donors, community leaders, or health authorities who are willing to address this problem and save millions from new contaminating diseases. Probably, it will continue to be up only to some medical professionals to properly educate and to correct any false information that is distributed within the nail industry to consumers by non-medical sources, affirms Howard Parness, M.D. Internist, Dallas, Texas. Not even the HIV / TB Program, the Stop TB Global Control Program, or the Malaria Program are working well enough and bringing the expected results. There isn’t enough coordination among entities and too little is being invested. E.g. the AIDS / TB Program is and will continue to be a pandemie in Global Public Health Emergency. These Programs, they work better separately, but this isn’t enough. My question is? If important Programs aren’t working well, a Manicure Prevention Program is only going to work with a bunch of difficulties and delays? Right? There is still very little media attention, more has to be done to stop this widespread contaminations.

The success of the prevention campaign against manicure contaminations depends on how fast people became aware of the need to have always a safe treatments. Afterwards it is not going to take a long time for Health Ministries, Authorities or Institutions to give more support. But, it has to start with the Media. As soon as the Media spreads the prevention advertisement, the sooner Health Authorities follow with an awareness campaign, and the consumer’s demand for safe manicure services are going to jump. It is incredible how millions of well educated and instructed people worldwide easily neglect a safe health manicure. The majority are lacking of any up-dated information, and the awareness on these serious contamination risks are decreasing with time. Just by asking these people, the prompt answers are going to be from one absurd into the other why they don’t catch any infections at a manicure. Nail Technicians are very badly informed about the medical disease reality; they want to see their gains first. At the same time these well educated or instructed people, they are always looking for a Healthier Lifestyle Behavior. It is incredible how the awareness to prevent themselves from infections at a Naillist is still passing by without a major thought.

The numbers of people who can be contaminated by manicure are increasing fast, and not much is being done worldwide because, Hepatitis and these other manicure infections are not killing people as fast as HIV did. The sporadic contaminations of these killing diseases are difficult to track back to Naillists. All these habitual diseases always existed before and a Medical Doctor cured or tried or cure them. These diseases still don’t call the attention that AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are calling, making that much fewer Institutions get interested to reduce the increasing contamination cases. Governments neglect to do much, due to lack of political interest, low awareness and lack of financial resources. The Pharma Laboratories don’t see enough profits if they do a campaign against the spread of diseases by nail care. Hepatitis C has no vaccination yet.

Vicki Rapaport, M.D., Dermatologist, Beverly Hills, California has an interesting statement; at your next nail appointment, take a moment to notice the other customers receiving nail treatments. Then ask yourself how comfortable you would feel sharing personal care items with those random individuals and, hence potentially contracting their medical problems. “ With the growing numbers of people going to nail salons it becomes important to be aware of potential health risks found in these pedicure and manicure spas. Having your own personal nail kit all of the essentials to manage your manicure and pedicure is a fantastic and simple way to do something healthful for yourself.

But, now the contamination risks at manicure can be reduced to almost nil cases, if a newly patented, inexpensive and complete implement is used. It is a manicure clipper with up to 22 different manicure and pedicure functions, called Nail Safe Kit. This manicure clipper is the best guaranteed solution and the most uncomplicated and inexpensive. In-expensive because consumers don’t spent more than some few Dollars to have a Safe Nail Kit, and nail technicians don’t have to buy dozen of implements for each individual client, do not have to sterilize it, and neither replace worn-out and un-sharped tools for higher costs. Nail Safe Kit is so inexpensive, that for the first time even financially unprivileged people worldwide can afford a quality tool and this for a complete nail out-fit-set. For poor people worldwide, quality tools are usually very expensive and difficult to find. Safe Nail Kit has quality, is a complete set and is an inexpensive device. With only some few dollars the population can prevent themselves from many risky manicure contaminations.

Now, with Safe Nail Kit, every person that frequents a nail salon or not has the opportunity to take with them a multi-purpose nail product all-in-one unit, thus, without the risk of forgetting any instrument and of being contaminated by others. As the Safe Nail Kit is a small and a complete device that makes all the works as easy as using the habitual tools, Safe Nail Kit makes life easier, and it is an amusement to use it, because it is easy to use, and shows fasts results. Every person can easily do their nails, toes, cuticles and some body treatments when traveling by car or airplane*, on the beach, swimming pool, country side, at home, hotel or nail salons. To carry a own Safe Nail Kit on leisure trips, favors to have all tools in-one, to have time for treatments and above all to avoid unhealthy risk behaviors by using tools used on more people. For the majority of people, it is an instrument which will be used frequently, so, the wearing-out of its cutting blades and files from time to time, favors a new buy. It is also indicated to be used in space ships due to its small size and low weight. *for airplane travel, the 18 function model has to be used. Has no long out-sticking blades. Product Features and Benefits of the Nail Safe Kit

•Performs at least 18 manicure and pedicure functions •Convenient •Affordable for all social classes Worldwide •Easily carried to and from anywhere, even to nail salons •Eliminates the possibility of being exposed to dangerous infections and bacteria from contaminated tools •Easy to use •Size of a nail clipper •Special long length for the model used by professionals •Models with inserts in-between the two overlapping clipper plates, increase the functions to more than 22 functions. Inserts how, scissor, knife, callus or white and blackhead tool
 * For personal use, or as disposable.

Product Specifications

My patented novelty is that for the first time a normal nail clipper with only 2 overlapping plates and one lever has at least eighteen functions related to nail, toenails, cuticle, and finger care. My patent is not on knives and inserts, but if we put some inserts in-between these two plates, more functions are added to it, and the Safe Nail Kit performs at least 22 manicure and pedicure functions. There isn’t any other device that accomplished the same purposes of the Nail Safe Kit. My patent is on the seven tools incorporated to the two nail clipper plates. The most important tool is the lateral cuticle trimmer located beside the frontal nail trimmer. This lateral trimmer has two blades and two lightly oval points which clean underneath the nails, lift, push and cut cuticles, loose skin, cut skin or hairs, cut ingrown or curled nails, and clean the dirt out of nails, toes and toe groves. After washing it also serves as a thorn and prickle looser. Beside this lateral trimmer, there are other tools, as tweezers, a polishing file, a rough teeth edge file, for thick keratotic skin and nails. This higher teeth file is delimited by a hook, which also serves to protect finger-skin when opening a bottle cap. There is also a flatted-end-retackle used as a pusher, a nail stick, orange wood, and in last case, used as a screwdriver to open stables or to scratch, alleviating damages on finger nails. On the lever and plates there are a polisher, a buffer or a brush, etc. More tools, like scissor, knife, black-and-white head removers, etc. can be added among the two clipper plates.

The pictures on the US and the other countries patent documents are correct, but these pictures are based on my working prototype of the Safe Nail Kit. These pictures are to demonstrate the Safe Nail Kit Functionality, and we can use this rough design only for the model the men are going to use.

For women and kids this working prototype design is too ugly, un-attractive and appears threatening. The sharp out-sticking point of its lateral cuticle trimmer has to be enclosed in a kind of flexible plastic cover, or a new nicer tailored design or a more appealing contour has to be developed. An ugly design does not sell for kids and women. For this segment we need to design an eye pleasing Save Nail Kit. A model with an enhanced appearance. Only a model with an out-standing feminine attractive design will sell fast.

Besides of been a Client’s Life Saving Tool, for the Nail Technicians who work continuously for hours, the Safe Nail Kit demands a softer handle (a longer stem to avoid hand pains) and hand comfort in order to make it more marketable to them. This can be achieved by increasing the length of my working prototype drawn on the patent documents. Not forgetting that for professionals it is less time consuming and less expensive to buy a new Safe Nail Kit that to re-sharpen used tools, to substitute worn-out devices, to buy spare tools, to sterilize used tools, or to buy the daily soft tools which can’t be sterilized. Soft material sticks, files, boards, cuticle lifters, pushers, and brushes, should be thrown away and not reused. Safe Nail Kit makes life easier and cheaper for Naillists. Safe Nail Kit is meant only for personal use, it is kept in a named envelop in the salons or it can be carried along in a small pocket. It is an ideal coarse file for people with pachyonychia affections.

References (1) Contamination Problem Affecting Travers, please refer to Risks of Hepatitis B in Travelers as Compared to Immunization Status, By Jane N. Zuckerman of the Academic Unit of Travel Medicine and Vaccines, Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College London, United Kingdom, and Robert Steffen, Head of Communicable Diseases, institute of Social and Prevention Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland (2) Hepatitis C, risk not limited to injection Drug Users, a study in New York City, National Institute of Drug Abuse, Issued at Substance Use and Misuse, May 1. (3) Survey of Infection control procedures at manicure and pedicure establishments in North York. Canadian Journal of Public Health. PMID 11338152, PubMed. (4) Study research from the New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. Hepatitis Foundation International, American Liver Foundation. University of Toronto, Dept. of Public Health, Ian Johnson. Medical Doctors Advice Consumers to Bring Own Tools to Nail Salons. Los Angeles, Market Wire, Dec. 04, 2006. CLS Medical Advisory Board, contact Lisa Elia, phone: 310-479.0216. Articles on mani/pedicure infectious diseases, Andrea Cambio, M.D. Dermatologist in Private Practice